The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Existing systems used by mobile phone service operators to configure mobile computing devices, such as OMA Device Management (“OMA-DM”), require that the mobile phone service operator configure complex server/node systems to set up multiple SKUs and instruct the OEM to configure the mobile phone to contact the mobile phone service operator's OMA-DM server to obtain files and settings needed to configure the phone. This creates an absolute imperative for the mobile phone to have mobile phone service when it is configured (which may occur at the time of the first boot up or it may occur anytime the mobile phone is returned to a “factory default” or similar condition).
Other, even earlier and more manual processes, require that the mobile phone service operator order separate SKUs from the OEM for each user type (regardless of whether the mobile phone service operator may have multiple user types who will be utilizing the same mobile phone hardware), and provide the OEM with detailed configuration settings and files to configure the mobile phone for each separate SKU, regardless of whether the mobile phone service operator may have multiple user types who will be utilizing the same mobile phone hardware and regardless of whether the OEM may be delivering the same mobile phone hardware to multiple mobile phone service operators for use by multiple user types.
With respect to the OMA-DM approach, mobile phone service is not universally available and, even when it is, the network connection attempt is particularly problematic when the mobile phone has not yet been configured. In fact, certain configuration approaches require that the mobile phone be pre-configured with a “temporary” phone number, precisely to address this problem, though problems can occur in disassociating the mobile phone from the temporary number and then associating it with the intended “permanent” phone number for the user. The older, more manual approach, reduces reliance on the network connection, but creates a significant potential for logistical and information-management costs and errors and does not take advantage of the fact that multiple user types (and multiple mobile phone service operators) may be utilizing the same mobile phone hardware.